In this file photo dated July 30, 2020, French engineer-virologist Thomas Mollet looks at 24 well plates adherent cells monolayer infected with a Sars-CoV-2 virus at the Biosafety level 3 laboratory (BSL3) of the Valneva SE Group headquarters in Saint-Herblain, near Nantes, western France. (JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER / AFP)

PARIS / ADDIS ABABA / RABAT / MOSCOW / CONAKRY - Valneva SE shares soared after the European Commission agreed to buy as many as 60 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine the French firm is developing.

The deal would allow EU member states to purchase almost 27 million doses from Valneva in 2022, and an additional 33 million in 2023, the commission said in a statement Wednesday. The shot has yet to be approved by the bloc’s medicines regulator.

The deal would allow EU member states to purchase almost 27 million doses from Valneva in 2022, and an additional 33 million in 2023, the commission said in a statement Wednesday

Valneva, based outside Nantes, is developing a vaccine that uses an inactivated form of the virus to generate an immune response, a technology that’s often used in flu shots and childhood immunizations. Its development has lagged behind messenger-RNA shots developed by Moderna Inc and the partnership between Pfizer Inc and Germany’s BioNTech SE, of which billions of doses have already been used.

Still, Valneva said last month that its vaccine elicited better immunity than AstraZeneca Plc’s shot in a clinical trial. That’s after the UK government earlier this year canceled its supply contract, saying the company had breached its obligations, which Valneva contests.

Those fluctuations have sent the shares on a roller-coaster ride. They’re up about 325 percent over the past 12 months and surged as much as 25 percent in Paris on Wednesday.

The contract marks the eighth deal the EU has reached with a pharmaceutical company for COVID-19 inoculations.

Delivery of Valneva’s vaccine is currently expected to begin in April, subject to approval by the European Medicines Agency, the company said. A rolling review of the shot is expected to start soon, it added.

“The Valneva vaccine adds another option to our broad portfolio,” Stella Kyriakides, the EU’s commissioner for health and food safety, said in the statement.

ALSO READ: Global COVID-19 infections surpass 250m

In this file photo taken on Aug 25, 2021, a man looks on as he receives a jab of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine from a healthcare worker inside the Transvaco COVID-19 vaccine train stationed at the Springs Train Station outside of Johannesburg.

Africa

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa reached 8,548,575 cases as of Tuesday afternoon, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

The Africa CDC, the specialized healthcare agency of the African Union (AU), said the death toll from the pandemic across the continent stands at 219,793.

Some 7,947,329 patients across the continent have recovered from the disease so far, according to the agency.

South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia and Ethiopia are among the countries with the most cases in the continent, according to the agency.

In terms of the caseloads, southern Africa is the most affected region, followed by the northern and eastern parts of the continent, while central Africa is the least affected region in the continent, according to the Africa CDC.

Croatia

Croatia recorded 7,315 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the highest daily number since the start of the pandemic, and 50 related deaths, the national COVID-19 response team said in a statement on Wednesday.

The number of active cases in Croatia now is 34,296, among whom 1,940 are in hospital and 254 on respirators, the statement said.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic in Croatia, a total of 514,850 people have been infected with COVID-19 and 9,655 have died.

Low vaccination rate has been blamed for the main reason of the climbing COVID-19 cases and deaths. In Croatia, only 53.71 percent of the adult population have been vaccinated.  

In this file photo taken on Oct 6, 2020, an election committee member wearing a protective equipment as a preventive measure against the coronavirus COVID-19 disease is pictured at a drive-in polling station for quarantined voters in Prague, ahead of the country's general election.

Czech

Czech authorities recorded 14,539 new COVID-19 infections on Tuesday, the highest daily tally since mid-March and close to all-time highs seen in January, health ministry data showed, as a vaccinations campaign started.

The outgoing government of Prime Minster Andrej Babis has rejected imposing a lockdown or similar restrictions despite the numbers growing steadily in recent weeks, saying vaccinations were the way to tame the fresh wave of the pandemic.

The Czech Republic had 6.14 million people fully vaccinated among the population of 10.7 million as of Nov 9.

With 58.7 percent of the total population vaccinated, the country ranks below the European Union average of 64.6 percent, according to European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

In this file photo, a member of the medical mobile vaccination team for COVID-19, vaccinates a man with reduced mobility sitting in his home as part of the vaccination campaign taking place in an outlying municipality of Hitiaa, on the French Polynesia island of Tahiti.  (JEROME BROUILLET / AFP)

France

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday that those aged 65 and older will need to present proof of a COVID-19 booster shot from mid-December for health passes that give access to restaurants, trains and planes to remain valid.

Besides, the third shot, so far available only for people older than 65 and the vulnerable, will from early December also be available for the 50-64 age group, Macron said in a televised address.

"Since the end of summer, a campaign has been launched to protect people over 65 as well as the most fragile among us. Today we must accelerate," Macron said.

"If you have been vaccinated more than six months ago, I call on you to book an appointment for a booster shot. From December 15, you will need to show proof of a booster shot to extend the validity of your health pass."

The health pass is required to enter restaurants and bars, to go to the gym or a conference, and for long-distance train and plane journeys.

Macron also urged those not yet vaccinated to do so. "To those not yet vaccinated: Get vaccinated. Get vaccinated to protect yourselves. Get vaccinated to live normally," the president said. "We are not done yet with the pandemic."

Macron said Europe was seeing a fifth wave of coronavirus infections and that in France there had been an alarming rise in the number of COVID-19 hospital patients and in the spread of cases.

France registered 12,476 new confirmed infections on Tuesday, the highest level since Sept. 8, health ministry data showed.

ALSO READ: WHO warns of shortage of 1-2b COVID-19 vaccine syringes

Germany

Germany's vaccine advisory committee recommends people under 30 be vaccinated only with the Biontech/Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine as it showed a lower number of heart inflammations in younger people than the Moderna vaccination, it said on Wednesday.

The committee, known as STIKO, said it also recommends pregnant women, independent of their age, be inoculated only with the Biontech/Pfizer vaccine as well.

In this file photo taken on Nov 09, 2021 a member of the medical team fills a syringe with the vaccine of BioNtech/Pfizer in a COVID-19 vaccination station in Stuttgart, southern Germany, amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Guinea

Guinea will begin vaccinating children aged 12-17 against COVID-19 with a consignment of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines on Wednesday, the health ministry said.

Most African countries have been reliant on the COVAX vaccine sharing initiative for doses, and have inoculated only a small fraction of their populations.

Guinea received a quantity of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines in late October and early November, the National Agency for Health Security said in a statement. It did not say how many doses were received or from where.

The country previously received 194,400 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine from the global COVAX initiative, and supplemented that with vaccines purchased and donated from China. read more

Guinea has administered at least 2,276,474 doses of COVID-19 vaccine so far, enough to have fully vaccinated about 9 percent of its population, according to government data compiled by Reuters.

The death toll in Guinea from the pandemic stands at 387, and there have been 30,709 cases, according to government figures.

Pfizer

Pfizer Inc and BioNTech on Tuesday requested the US Food and Drug Administration to authorize booster doses of their COVID-19 vaccine in all adults, presenting recent data showing the shot would help prevent disease across ages.

Over the past several months, the FDA has authorized Pfizer's boosters for people who are immunocompromised, those who are aged 65 and above, all people at high risk of severe disease, and people who are regularly exposed to the virus.

Pfizer previously requested authorization for all people aged 16 or over, but the FDA held back on extending boosters to everyone, partly because there was not enough evidence of waning immunity or of the benefit of boosters in younger people.

Pfizer said it would present data from a large clinical study which last month showed that a booster dose of its vaccine was 95.6 percent effective against the coronavirus when compared to a vaccinated group that did not get the third shot.

A Moroccan health worker prepares of the Pfizer-BioNTech at a Covid-19 vaccination centre, in the city of Sale, on Oct 5, 2021. (FADEL SENNA / AFP)

Morocco

The Moroccan government said on Tuesday that it decided to ease anti-COVID-19 restrictions, including the lifting of a night curfew, throughout the country from Wednesday.

This decision follows the positive results of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign, which has led to a decline of daily COVID-19 cases, deaths and hospitalizations in the North African country, the Moroccan government said in a statement.

But the government maintained the requirement for presenting the vaccine pass or vaccination exemption certificate for travelling abroad and access to all closed spaces, including workplaces, tourist sites, shops, cafes, restaurants, sports halls, and other public places.

Meanwhile, the Moroccan Ministry of Health reported on Tuesday a significant drop in COVID-19 positive cases over the last two weeks, confirming the end of the third wave of the pandemic in the country.

The new COVID-19 infections declined by 33 percent during the same period, and all Morocco's regions passed to green with less than 25 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, the report said.

Russia

Russia on Wednesday reported a record 1,239 deaths from COVID-19 in the previous 24 hours, just days after most of its regions emerged from a week-long workplace shutdown designed to curb the spread of the virus.

Russian health minister Mikhail Murashko told parliament on Wednesday that oxygen reserves at hospitals in 12 of Russia's regions would last for two days or less, unless they were replenished

The government coronavirus task force also reported 38,058 new COVID-19 cases, including 3,927 in Moscow, in the past 24 hours.

Health minister Mikhail Murashko told parliament on Wednesday that oxygen reserves at hospitals in 12 of Russia's regions would last for two days or less, unless they were replenished.

At the same time, he said, some regions were already reporting a decline in infections and the vaccination campaign was bearing fruit as only 3-4 percent of inoculated Russians have been infected.

More than 62 million Russians have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, Murashko said.

UK

Scotland is looking at tightening COVID-19 restrictions because of a high level of new cases as it hosts the United Nations climate summit in its largest city. 

The government expects case numbers to increase further in the coming weeks, partly due to the COP26 meeting in Glasgow, Deputy First Minister John Swinney told lawmakers on Tuesday. The administration in Edinburgh “cannot rule out” strengthening existing measures to avoid the need for any future lockdowns, Swinney said.

US President Joe Biden speaks on the authorization of the COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11 in the South Court Auditorium, next to the White House, in Washington, DC on Nov 3, 2021. (MANDEL NGAN / AFP)

US

The Biden Administration's employer COVID-19 vaccine rule should remain blocked because US employers should not have to scramble to implement an illegal rule, opponents told a federal appeals court on Tuesday.

The US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans is weighing whether to lift an order issued Saturday that froze the rule during litigation.

The government has been sued by private employers, religious organizations and states including Texas for allegedly exceeding its authority to issue the vaccine rule.

Businesses must begin crafting policies and collecting employee health information to prepare to implement the rule by the Jan 4 deadline, while also dealing with labor shortages and logistics problems.

"These burdens start now," the opponents said in the court filing. "They cannot recover that lost time and effort if the rule is eventually enjoined."